water

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈwɔː.tə/, US /ˈwɑː.t̬ɚ/, /ˈwɔː-/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English water, inherited from Old English wæter,^[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *watar.^[4][5] Its cognates are Old Frisian weter, Old Saxon watar, Dutch water, Old High German wazzar (modern German Wasser), Old Norse vatn and Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍄𐍉 (watō), the Norse and Gothic words being formed with -n- in place of -r-.^[4][5] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wod-or, a suffixed form of the root *wed- (“water; wet”).^[2][6] Proto-Indo-European declined this noun with -r- in the nominative and -n- in the other cases, as Hittite still shows (Hittite wātar, genitive wetenas).^[4] Other forms of the root gave wet, otter and, through Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (hýdōr), hydro-;^[6] further cognates are Latin unda (“wave”), Lithuanian vanduo, Old Irish uisce and Russian вода (vodá), the source of vodka.^[4][7][8] Etymonline notes that Proto-Indo-European seems to have had a second word, *ap-, for water as a living force, while *wed- named it as a substance.^[2] The verb is inherited from Old English wæterian, from the noun.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The clear liquid of rain, rivers and seas: Old English wæter is recorded before 899, in King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In ancient thought water was one of the handful of basic elements of which everything is made.^[2] Old English already had the verb wæterian “to moisten, irrigate” and “to lead cattle to water”.^[2][9] “To dilute” is late 14th century, now usually water down (by 1850),^[2] and of the mouth, “to salivate”, mid-15th century.^[2] Make water “urinate” is early 15th century.^[2] Waters for the seas of a region, and for a nation's maritime claims, is by the 1650s.^[2] The transparency and lustre of a diamond was called its water from about 1600, perhaps translating Arabic mā' “water”, which also meant “lustre, splendour”;^[2][5][10] hence of the first water “of the highest quality”, used of people and things from the 1740s.^[10] To have one's head above water is from the 1660s, and figuratively “out of difficulty” from 1742.^[2] Later compounds include water polo (1884), water buffalo (1894) and water cannon (1964).^[2]

Timeline

• before 899 – Old English wæter (Alfred's Pastoral Care).^[4]
• Old English – verb wæterian, to moisten, irrigate, water cattle.^[2][9]
• late 14th century – to dilute.^[2]
• early 15th century – make water, to urinate.^[2]
• mid-15th century – of the mouth, to water.^[2]
• c. 1600 – the lustre of a diamond.^[2]
• 1650s – waters, the seas of a region.^[2]
• 1660s – head above water.^[2]
• 1740s – of the first water used of people and things.^[10]
• 1850 – water down.^[2]
• 1884 – water polo.^[2]
• 1894 – water buffalo.^[2]
• 1964 – water cannon.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The clear, colourless, tasteless liquid that falls as rain and forms seas, lakes and rivers, essential to plant and animal life.
2. A body of water such as a sea, lake or river, or, as waters, the sea of a particular area.
3. A supply of water, or a water supply system.
4. Any of the liquids in or passed from the body, such as urine or tears.
5. The transparency and lustre of a gem: of the first water.

Verb

1. To pour or sprinkle water on: water the plants.
2. To give (an animal) water to drink, or lead it to water.
3. To dilute by adding water; weaken: water down.
4. To irrigate (land).
5. Of the eyes, to fill with tears; of the mouth, to produce saliva.
6. To give a wavy sheen to (silk or metal).
7. To increase (the number of shares) without increasing the assets behind them.

Word family

• waterer
• waterless
• waterlessly
• waterlessness
• waterlike
• dewater
• overwater
• rewater

Related words

• wet
• otter
• hydro-
• hydra
• undulate
• vodka

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press